Award-winning author, Educator.

Listen to samples of Jen's fiction at The Resilient Creative here & here. 

​JEN KNOX  is the founder / director of Unleash Creatives and an award-winning writer of short fiction and essays and an educator, with work in such journals as Room Magazine, CutBank, Chicago Tribune, McSweeney’s Internet Quarterly, Saturday Evening Post, New Winning Writers, The Best Small Fictions, and elsewhere. ​Winner of the Montana Prize for the Essay, the San Miguel Essay Prize, the Press American Award for Prose, and the Steel Toe Books Award, her other honors include grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Greater Columbus Arts Council and residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, and the Ou Gallery. Jen holds an MFA from Bennington and is at work on a collection of essays. Her first historical novel, Radicals, will be published by Library Tales/Simon & Schuster late 2026. Her first novel, We Arrive Uninvited, is available from Steel Toe Books. Jen writes The Resilient Creative where she posts meditations and prompts and invites writers to join monthly creativity circles. ​

Awards:

"Volunteer," Essay. Honorable Mention, New Millennium Writers. 2025

"Blackouts," Essay. Pushcart Nominee, ELJ. 2025

AT WORK, Memoir: Finalist. Minerva Rising’s 2023 Memoir Contest; Finalist, Trio House Press 2024 Memoir Contest, ​Ohio Arts Council grant; Greater Columbus Arts Council; selections won the 2023 San Miguel Prize, earned finalist status in the 2023 Gordon Square Review Prize and the New Millenium Writing Awards; earned honorable mention in the Tom Howard/John H. Reid Contest

"Disembodied," Essay. WINNER, CutBank Montana Prize in Nonfiction (soon to appear in Issue 99); Finalist, 2022. Cutthroat Barry Lopez Prize for Nonfiction; Finalist, 2022. New Millenium Writing Awards; ​Finalist, Gold Line Press Chapbook Competition

WE ARRIVE UNINVITED: Winner of the Steel Toe Books Award; Winner, 2021. Winter Goose Publishing Award; Quarterfinalist, ScreenCraft Cinematic Book Competition; Second Rounder, Launch Pad Prose Competition; Redlist, Coverfly. 

DANDELION GHOSTS. Flash. Winner, 2020 Flash Fiction Magazine Award.

THE GLASS CITY. Stories. Winner, 2016 Press Americana Award. ​Finalist, 2016 Calvino Prize from The University of Louisville.

Winner, Next Generation Indie Book Awards, Fiction. TO BEGIN AGAIN. Stories.

Semifinalist, 2018 Book Pipeline Competition. RESOLUTIONS. Stories.

Short stories.

Best Short Fictions, 2017. Anthology; Finalist, 2021 Women On Writing Essay contest; Finalist, Dundee Book Awards; Finalist, Glimmer Train Award; Finalist, Certy's Prize; Wigleaf's Top 50, 2012.

Jen's training and experience:

MFA, Bennington College, BA, Otterbein University

Credential in Leadership and Management, Harvard Business School

Lecturer, The Ohio State University

ICF-Certified Professional Coach

Former Lecturer, San Antonio Community College

Former Program Director, Gemini Ink

200hr through Uplifted™ Yoga YTT

Meditation instructor at Aura and Insight Timer

Science of Well-Being Course at Yale University​

Reach out to discuss appearances and coaching